Intercooler assembly

ABSTRACT

A dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly for an intercooler supercharger system comprising an intercooler lid mountable to a supercharger housing; a pair of intercooler cores coupled mountable to and within at least one of the intercooler lid and the supercharger housing; wherein the pair of intercooler cores configured to receive and cool supercharger air upon a first pass through the pair of intercooler cores and receive and further cool the supercharger air upon a second pass through the pair of intercooler cores prior to receipt by an engine.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/155,753, filed on Oct. 9, 2018, and claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/663,409, filed on Apr. 27, 2018. Both of these patent applications are incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to intercooler supercharger systems and methods.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Intercooler supercharger systems have been developed in the past to obtain additional power from an engine. A supercharger delivers additional air so that a vehicle engine can burn additional fuel. The additional air is provided by compressing the air with the supercharger before it enters the engine. When the air is compressed, however, the temperature of the air rises. Higher-temperature air is less dense and more volatile. An intercooler has been used between the supercharger and the engine to cool the compressed air to the desired temperature before injecting it into the engine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the invention involves a dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly for an intercooler supercharger system comprising an intercooler lid mountable to a supercharger housing; a pair of intercooler cores coupled mountable to and within at least one of the intercooler lid and the supercharger housing; wherein the pair of intercooler cores configured to receive and cool supercharger air upon a first pass through the pair of intercooler cores and receive and further cool the supercharger air upon a second pass through the pair of intercooler cores prior to receipt by an engine.

One or more implementations of the aspect of the invention described immediately above include one or more of the following: the pair of intercooler cores each include a heat exchange medium inlet and a heat exchange medium outlet; the intercooler lid includes a pair of lid heat exchange medium inlets and a pair of heat exchange medium outlets that are in communication with the heat exchange medium inlet and a heat exchange medium outlet of the pair of intercooler cores; the pair of intercooler cores are mounted to and within the intercooler lid to form a pre-assembled intercooler lid assembly mountable onto the supercharger housing to install the intercooler lid assembly; the pair of intercooler cores are mountable above the supercharger housing; and/or the pair of intercooler cores are mountable below the supercharger housing; the pair of intercooler cores are identical or substantially similar.

Another aspect of the invention involves a method of installing the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly of the aspect of the invention described above comprising: pre-assembling the pair of intercooler cores within the intercooler lid and coupling the pair of intercooler cores to the intercooler lid within the intercooler lid; mounting the intercooler lid assembly onto the supercharger housing to install the intercooler lid assembly.

One or more implementations of the aspect of the invention described immediately above include one or more of the following: the pair of intercooler cores each include a heat exchange medium inlet and a heat exchange medium outlet; the intercooler lid includes a pair of lid heat exchange medium inlets and a pair of heat exchange medium outlets that are in communication with the heat exchange medium inlet and a heat exchange medium outlet of the pair of intercooler cores when the pair of intercooler cores are pre-assembled within the intercooler lid; the pair of intercooler cores are mounted above the supercharger housing; and/or the pair of intercooler cores are identical or substantially similar.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of an intercooler lid assembly for a housing of an intercooler supercharger system;

FIG. 2A is top perspective view of the intercooler lid assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2B is bottom perspective view of the intercooler lid assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A is top perspective view of the intercooler lid assembly of FIG. 1 with a plurality of separate intercooler cores shown mounted within and to the lid;

FIG. 3B is a bottom perspective view of the intercooler lid assembly of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4A is a top plan view of the intercooler lid assembly of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4B is a front elevational view of the intercooler lid assembly of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4C is a rear elevational view of the intercooler lid assembly of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4D is a left side elevational view of the intercooler lid assembly of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4E is a right side elevational view of the intercooler lid assembly of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4F is a cross-sectional elevational view of the intercooler lid assembly of FIG. 4A taken along lines 4F-4F;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly of an intercooler supercharger system;

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly of an intercooler supercharger system of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a front elevational view of the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly of an intercooler supercharger system of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is cross-sectional view of the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly of an intercooler supercharger system of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of a dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly of an intercooler supercharger system similar to the intercooler supercharger system shown in FIGS. 5-9, except the supercharger is above the intercooler assembly;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a further embodiment of an intercooler assembly of an intercooler supercharger system where the supercharger is above the intercooler assembly, and the intercooler assembly includes three intercooler cores;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of a still further embodiment of an intercooler assembly of an intercooler supercharger system where the supercharger is above the intercooler assembly, and the intercooler assembly includes three intercooler cores;

FIG. 12 is a top exploded view of an embodiment of an intercooler assembly similar to the intercooler assemblies shown in FIGS. 1-4F, except small connecting tubes/dog bones are used to couple individual cores into a single large intercooler assembly.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart of an exemplary method of method of installing a dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIGS. 1-4F, an embodiment of an intercooler lid assembly 100 for an intercooler supercharger system 120 will be described after first describing the intercooler supercharger system 120.

The intercooler supercharger system 120 includes a housing 130 that encloses and directs air from a supercharger chamber 140 of a supercharger 145 to an intercooler assembly 150 and out the runners 160 to the engine (not shown).

The supercharger chamber 140 houses a rotor assembly 170. The supercharger 145 compresses the air to the engine by controlling a rate differential from the air intake through the rotor assembly 170 to air exhaust to the engine. In alternative embodiments, other compressor devices and configurations may be used such as, but not limited to, a screw compressor.

As shown by the arrows, the air leaving the supercharger 145 enters a central chamber 180 and is directed through the intercooler assembly 150. The intercooler assembly 150 includes a plurality of separate intercooler cores 190, 200, 210. The supercharger air traverses the central intercooler core 190 and enters lid chamber 220, which is disposed between the intercooler assembly 150 and a lid 230. Together, the plurality of intercooler cores 190, 200, 210 and the lid 230 form the intercooler lid assembly 100. Air entering the lid chamber 220 is directed by a central rib 240 and side ribs 250, 260 (along with a curved interior surface of the lid 230) to and through the side intercooler cores 200, 210. Then, the cooled air travels along the runners 160 to the engine.

With reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the intercooler lid assembly 100 includes a heat exchange medium system 270 for transferring a heat exchange medium (e.g., water) there through for cooling the compressed air that passes through the intercooler assembly 150. The heat exchange medium system 270 includes a lid heat exchange medium inlet 280 and lid heat exchange medium outlets 290. The central intercooler core 190 includes a heat exchange medium inlet 300 coupled with the lid heat exchange medium inlet 280, and a heat exchange medium outlets 310 in communication with the inlet 300 through a fluid path (not shown). The side intercooler core 200 includes a heat exchange medium inlet 320 coupled with one of the heat exchange medium outlets 310, and a heat exchange medium outlet 330 in communication with the inlet 320 through a fluid path (not shown) and coupled with one of the lid heat exchange medium outlets 290. The side intercooler core 210 includes a heat exchange medium inlet 340 coupled with one of the heat exchange medium outlets 310, and a heat exchange medium outlet 350 in communication with the inlet 340 through a fluid path (not shown) and coupled with one of the lid heat exchange medium outlets 290. In the embodiment shown, the heat exchange medium outlets 310 and the heat exchange medium inlets 320, 340 are coupled together with dog-bone type joints. In alternative embodiments, the heat exchange medium outlets 310 and the heat exchange medium inlets 320, 340 are coupled together with radial o-ring seal(s), o-ring face seal(s), gasketed face seal(s), or other connectors/seals. For example, but not by way of limitation, FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of an intercooler assembly where small connecting tubes/dog bones 352 are used to couple individual cores 190, 200, 210 together into a single large intercooler assembly 354.

The central intercooler core 190 includes connection flanges 351, 352, 354 and the side intercooler cores 200, 210 include connection flanges 360, 362. Fasteners (e.g., bolts) are used to mount the central intercooler core 190 and the side intercooler cores 200, 210 to each other, and to and within the lid 230 through the connection flange 350 and the connection flanges 360. FIGS. 3A through 4C show the central intercooler core 190 and the side intercooler cores 200, 210 mounted to and within the lid 230 to form the intercooler lid assembly 100.

In use, the intercooler lid assembly 100 is pre-assembled with the central intercooler core 190 and the side intercooler cores 200, 210 coupled together and mounted to and within the lid 230 to form the intercooler lid assembly 100 in the manner described with respect to FIGS. 2A and 2B. During installation, a user simply mounts/installs the intercooler lid assembly 100 to install the intercooler assembly.

Advantages of the intercooler lid assembly 100 include, among other advantages:

-   -   1. End user does not need to install the intercooler assembly,         which is such a critical piece of the intercooler supercharger         system, during installation. The intercooler assembly 150 is         pre-assembled in the lid 230 and customer simply installs the         lid 230 onto the housing 130 to install the intercooler         assembly. Prior designs and intercooler assembly installations         were much more time-consuming and complicated.     -   2. Simple water distribution amongst cores. Prior designs         required external water lines to transfer water from core to         core. In the intercooler lid assembly 100, the heat exchange         medium connections are built in, attaching with a dog bone type         joint(s), radial o-ring seal(s), o-ring face seal(s), gasketed         face seal(s), or other connectors/seals.     -   3. Easy to change in packaging; core depth can be varied         significantly easier.     -   4. Better flowing intake runners that prior designs, which is         limited in runner shape, hurting efficiency.     -   5. Easy access to cores. One can simply remove the lid 230 and         service/inspect cores 190, 200, 210. Prior designs required one         to remove the entire supercharger assembly.     -   6. Packaging advantage, by being on top vs on side, the         intercooler lid assembly 100 maximizes surface area of the         intercooler vs a wide supercharger (cores on the side), which         limits the ability to fit port injection into the lower portion         of the manifold and, in some cases, cannot fit on the engine due         to the width.     -   7. Increased airflow capacity. The runner section is the         smallest area. Putting a core in this area limits airflow         capacity through the intercooler core. By being on top of the         runners, the intercooler lid assembly 100 provides room to         increase surface area, lowering pressure loss.

With reference to FIGS. 5-8, an embodiment of a dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400 of an intercooler supercharger system 410 will be described. Elements in the intercooler supercharger system 410 that are similar to elements in the intercooler supercharger system 120 shown and/or described with respect to FIGS. 1-4 will be shown and/or described with like reference numbers, but with an “a” suffix.

The dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400 includes a pair of separate intercooler cores 414, 418. As shown in FIG. 8, the supercharger air traverses the pair of intercooler cores 414, 418 and enters the lid chamber 220 a, which is disposed between the intercooler assembly 410 and the lid 230 a. In the embodiment shown, together, the pair of intercooler cores 414, 418 and the lid 230 form a dual, dual-pass intercooler lid assembly 420. In an alternative embodiment, the intercooler assembly 400 is separate from the lid 230 a and/or the intercooler assembly 400 is mounted differently than that shown/described. The air flow through the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400 is similar to the air flow through the intercooler assembly 150 shown and/or described with respect to FIG. 1, but compared to the intercooler assembly 150, the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400 has one less leak path for the air to go by un-intercooled, has one less leak path (or dog bone) to potentially leak in the engine, is less expensive to manufacture, including less assembly time and reduces part count from three to one because the pair of left/right intercooler cores 414, 418 can be made to be identical or substantially similar). Compared to the intercooler assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 9,683,481, the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400 has greater water flow because the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400 has two heat exchanger fluid inlets and two heat exchanger fluid outlets of equal size whereas U.S. Pat. No. 9,683,481 has two heat exchanger fluid inlets and one heat exchanger fluid outlet.

In the embodiment of the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400 shown in FIGS. 5-8, the initial air flow direction from the supercharger 145 a underneath the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400 is up. However, with reference to FIG. 9, in an alternative embodiment of the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400, the initial air flow direction from the supercharger 145 a above the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400 is down, with the air continuing to flow back through the intercooler assembly 400 during a second pass, and then, cooled, the air travels along the runners 160 a to the engine.

FIGS. 10 and 11 show further embodiments of intercooler assemblies 430, 440 similar to FIG. 9 in that the initial air flow direction from the supercharger 145 a above the intercooler assemblies 430, 440 is down, except the intercooler assemblies 430, 440 include three separate intercooler cores 450, 460, 470 with the initial air from the supercharger 145 flowing through intercooler core 450, and then out intercooler cores 460, 470 along the runners 160 a to the engine.

In further embodiments of the intercooler assembly 400, an air inlet for the intercooler supercharger system 410 is in the front or the rear of the intercooler supercharger system 410.

With reference to FIGS. 5-7, the dual, dual-pass intercooler assembly 400 includes a heat exchange medium system 480 for transferring a heat exchange medium (e.g., water) there through for cooling the compressed air that passes through the intercooler assembly 400. The heat exchange medium system 480 includes two lid heat exchange medium inlets 490 and two lid heat exchange medium outlets 500. The intercooler cores 414, 418 include heat exchange medium inlets 510 coupled with the lid heat exchange medium inlets 490, and heat exchange medium outlets 520 coupled with the lid heat exchange medium outlets 500.

Similar to the heat exchange medium system 270, the heat exchange medium system 480 provides for simple water distribution in each core 414, 418 with the fluid transfer inside the supercharger 145 a or lid 230 a, eliminating the need for external water lines to transfer water from core to core or out of and back into the same core. Water flows through each core 414, 418 from the heat exchange medium inlets 490 to the heat exchange medium outlets 520, all internal to the supercharger 145 a or lid 230 a.

With reference to FIG. 13, a method of installing a dual-pass intercooler assembly comprises, at step 370, pre-assembling the plurality of intercooler cores within the intercooler lid and coupling the plurality of intercooler cores to the intercooler lid within the intercooler lid; at step 371, mounting the intercooler lid assembly onto the supercharger housing to install the intercooler lid assembly; at optional step 372, providing the plurality of intercooler cores so that each include a heat exchange medium inlet and a heat exchange medium outlet; at optional step 373, providing intercooler lid including heat exchange medium inlets and heat exchange medium outlets that are in communication with the heat exchange medium inlet and a heat exchange medium outlet of the plurality of intercooler cores when the plurality of intercooler cores are pre-assembled within the intercooler lid; at optional step 374, providing the plurality of intercooler cores mounted above the supercharger housing; at optional step 375, providing the plurality of intercooler cores so that they are one of identical and substantially similar.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not of limitation. Likewise, the various diagrams may depict an example architectural or other configuration for the disclosure, which is done to aid in understanding the features and functionality that can be included in the disclosure. The invention is not restricted to the illustrated example architectures or configurations, but the desired features can be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. Indeed, it will be apparent to one of skill in the art how alternative functional, logical or physical partitioning and configurations can be implemented to implement the desired features of the present disclosure.

Although the disclosure is described above in terms of various exemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be understood that the various features, aspects and functionality described in one or more of the individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability to the particular embodiment with which they are described, but instead can be applied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the other embodiments of the disclosure, whether or not such embodiments are described and whether or not such features are presented as being a part of a described embodiment. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments.

Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unless otherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open ended as opposed to limiting. As examples of the foregoing: the term “including” should be read as meaning “including, without limitation” or the like; the term “example” is used to provide exemplary instances of the item in discussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof; the terms “a” or “an” should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more” or the like; and adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional,” “normal,” “standard,” “known” and terms of similar meaning should not be construed as limiting the item described to a given time period or to an item available as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompass conventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that may be available or known now or at any time in the future. Likewise, where this document refers to technologies that would be apparent or known to one of ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass those apparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in the future.

The presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “at least,” “but not limited to” or other like phrases in some instances shall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or required in instances where such broadening phrases may be absent.

As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading this document, the illustrated embodiments and their various alternatives can be implemented without confinement to the illustrated examples. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A dual-pass intercooler assembly for an intercooler supercharger system, comprising: an intercooler lid mountable to a supercharger housing; a plurality of intercooler cores; wherein the plurality of intercooler cores configured to receive and cool supercharger air upon a first pass through one or more of the plurality of intercooler cores and receive and further cool the supercharger air upon a second pass through the one or more of the plurality of intercooler cores prior to receipt by an engine, the plurality of intercooler cores are mounted to and within the intercooler lid to form a pre-assembled intercooler lid assembly mountable onto the supercharger housing to install the intercooler lid assembly, and heat exchange medium connections disposed inside the pre-assembled intercooler lid assembly and connecting the plurality of intercooler cores together for heat exchange medium transfer between the plurality of intercooler cores, inside the pre-assembled intercooler lid assembly, and wherein the plurality of intercooler cores include a larger central rectangular intercooler core with opposite sides and a pair of smaller side rectangular intercooler cores along the opposite sides of the larger central rectangular intercooler core.
 2. The dual-pass intercooler assembly of claim 1, wherein the plurality of intercooler cores each include a heat exchange medium inlet and a heat exchange medium outlet.
 3. The dual-pass intercooler assembly of claim 2, wherein the intercooler lid includes heat exchange medium inlets and heat exchange medium outlets that are in communication with the heat exchange medium inlet and a heat exchange medium outlet of the plurality of intercooler cores.
 4. The dual-pass intercooler assembly of claim 1, wherein the plurality of intercooler cores are mountable above the supercharger housing.
 5. The dual-pass intercooler assembly of claim 1, wherein the plurality of intercooler cores are mountable below the supercharger housing.
 6. A method of installing the dual-pass intercooler assembly of claim 1, comprising: pre-assembling the plurality of intercooler cores entirely within the intercooler lid by disposing the intercooler lid upside down, lowering the plurality of intercooler cores entirely within the intercooler lid, and coupling the plurality of intercooler cores to the intercooler lid within the intercooler lid to form the pre-assembled intercooler lid assembly; mounting the pre-assembled intercooler lid assembly onto the supercharger housing to install the pre-assembled intercooler lid assembly.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of intercooler cores each include a heat exchange medium inlet and a heat exchange medium outlet.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the intercooler lid includes heat exchange medium inlets and heat exchange medium outlets that are in communication with the heat exchange medium inlet and a heat exchange medium outlet of the plurality of intercooler cores when the plurality of intercooler cores are pre-assembled within the intercooler lid.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of intercooler cores are mounted above the supercharger housing.
 10. The dual-pass intercooler assembly of claim 1, wherein the heat exchange medium connections are dog-bone type joints. 